Did you ever meet any of your online friends in person ?? how did it go ? were you glad you did ?

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

Answers

Yeah twice...my friend Angie in New York City, and my friend Joanie in San Diego...it was great !! they were just about the same in person as they were online.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

I've met a few... when I was a freshman I met a bunch of people I had been talking to in a #st.louis IRC chat room for about a year. That was cool, although they were sort of all older than me, and drunk, and one guy felt up on my ass. I also met Joe there... was that the first time? I think so, yeah. Anyhow, he's like my best friend now. And then there's Eric, which everybody knows about.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

One friend, Ally...we'd known each other for a couple of years by the time we first met. Which was kind of odd, actually, since we only live about 2 hours away, and could've done it a lot sooner. But yeah, she was great, the same person she was online. We're still really good friends today.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

I'm actually meeting this guy ive talked to online/phone for a year and a half this summer. My parents and his parents have talked and he is going to be staying with my family for about a week. Any tips? I am soooooo nervous.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

I met my "online" boyfriend in person, and we've been together ever since. So you're pretty much in my position, Elizabeth. Except I only knew my boyfriend for about 6-7 months before we met. I don't really have any tips, except that if you think what you're doing is the right thing, then just grit your teeth and do it, cause soon after the nervousness should just melt away. I was hella nervous, my heart rate was like, off the charts, and all sorts of stuff. Am I making sense? Anyway. Sorry, I'm pretty-unhelpful. :)

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

I met a email buddy. He lived 2 blocks from me. I've been living with him for almost 2 years. We're engaged. My mother loves him. Turns out I've known his best friend for my entire life. That was weird when we put the pieces together. Nuff said.

-- Anonymous, March 31, 2001

I've met six of my online friends in person. The first was Chris, back in March of 1999. We had known each other for a couple years at that point (we met each other through bulletin boards on old-school Prodigy), and we established ourselves as a couple during that first week together. I think we had ten visits overall before the relationship ended.

After I met Chris for the first time, I met two other friends from old-school Prodigy, Missy and Lindsay. Then, in January 2000, Chris and I met Steve, formerly of misanthrope.org. In May I saw Steve again, and I got to meet Allison, formerly of "Roller Coaster" and "Brand New Day." And then, last week, I met a journal reader/correspondent of mine, Cammy, who looks like she's going to become a full-fledged "real-life" friend because she lives so close to me.

All good experiences. I have no regrets. Elizabeth, since I've been in your position, I second Noelle's advice: just accept the nervousness. It's natural. Start planning some activities for the two of you so that you won't end up hanging around your parents' house the whole time. It took a while for my parents to get used to the whole meeting-people-from-online thing. The week Chris spent at my parents' house was weird, but good. It's very strange to have someone from your "online life" suddenly infiltrate the "real life" you've known for so long.

Be warned, though: long-distance relationships are rough. If you think you might end up having a relationship with this guy, consider exactly what it'll entail before you take the plunge.

-- Anonymous, March 31, 2001

Yeah, I met my boyfriend online 3 and a half years ago. He lived 3 and half hours away so it wasn't that bad. I was so nervous the first time I ran back inside. I took a deep breath and went outside. After the initial near heart attack I gave him a hug and the rest was great. After meeting in person it's hell to be away from eachother. If you think it's bad before meeting him or her, it's 8 million times worse AFTER meeting them in person. I eventually moved up here (how convienent, there's a college in his city, one I was looking at!) about a year and a half into our relationship to go to school, and we've been together a total of over 3 years now. I don't know if we would've lasted long distance. The fights started getting more frequent because of not being together. Now we're together and hardly ever fight. :D

Good luck though! Just be yourself!

-- Anonymous, March 31, 2001

Thank you everyone for the advice :o)

-- Anonymous, April 01, 2001

A girl I met on a message board that tended to attract theatre geeks and was somewhat of an online friend ended up being in my writing class at NYU. We were both late the first day, but didn't recognize each other until I recognized her email address. Now we're good friends!

-- Anonymous, April 20, 2001

i've been doing the online socializing thing a lot lately, all because of craigslist.com. but i don't know if those kinda meetings count, because they're usually after exchanging only a couple emails and regarding aptments/jobs/volunteering/etc. ... so it's not like they're friends. that's a great forum for anyone in the bay area looking for any of the above, though. yeah.

-- Anonymous, April 20, 2001

craigslist.com is my favorite job/rental listing service for the bay area... i'm there every day.

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2001

Yeah, I met this one guy in a chat room and we hit it off cuz we live in the same area. So I called him that night, and we talked every night for like a month. I met him for the second time the other day,m and now I can't stop thinking about him.

Whoever said that it was worse after you meet the person than before (anticipation wise), was totally right. I can't wait to see him again!

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2001

i have met lots of online people because i am naive enough to think that everyone online is just a normal, regular, cool person like myself. haha. i am surprised at the sheer amount of online relationships here.

-- Anonymous, May 13, 2001